European leaders urge Trump to involve Ukraine in talks and demand a ceasefire from Putin

US President Donald Trump held a virtual meeting with various European leaders, organised by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, to prepare for Friday's summit in Alaska between the US president and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which will focus on finding a peaceful resolution to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Wednesday's meeting with Donald Trump included Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, António Costa, President of the European Council, Friedrich Merz, German Chancellor, Giorgia Meloni, President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, and Volodimir Zelenski, President of Ukraine.

After the telematic meeting, Europe is confident in Donald Trump ahead of Friday's summit between the US president and Vladimir Putin to address the issue of the war in Ukraine, with the aim of agreeing on the long-awaited ceasefire. 

The agreement reached at Wednesday's virtual summit is that the first thing to be achieved at the Trump-Putin meeting is a ceasefire and that any negotiations on territories must include Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in Berlin for an official reception hosted by Friedrich Merz, said he hoped the summit in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would serve to establish a ceasefire in Ukraine. 

‘We hope that there will be a ceasefire in Alaska,’ Zelensky said after the virtual meeting with the German chancellor and the US president. The Ukrainian president said that Putin ‘is lying’ about his willingness to end the conflict and that he is seeking to intensify the offensive on all fronts to achieve his ultimate goal, which is to definitively annex various Ukrainian territories, i.e., peace in exchange for territory.

‘I have told the US president and all our European partners that Putin is bluffing. He is trying to put pressure on all fronts in Ukraine before the meeting in Alaska. Russia is trying to show that it is possible to occupy the whole of Ukraine. That is undoubtedly his desire,’ he said. 

Chancellor Merz expressed his support for a peace that respects the interests of Kiev and Europe. ‘President Trump knows he can count on us for a just peace,’ he said. Merz pointed out that there are a number of issues that must be addressed at the meeting between Putin and Trump, such as that the starting point for negotiations must be a ceasefire that lays the foundations for a ‘lasting peace’ and that Kiev must be present at the peace talks.

For his part, Donald Trump said there would be ‘severe consequences’ for Putin if he did not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine and indicated that a second three-way meeting was being prepared if the first one in Alaska between Putin and him ‘went well.’ 

Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine continues and Russian troops continue to advance on several fronts in the Donbas, although positions remain fairly stable overall with a stalemate in the armed conflict that began with the Russian invasion ordered by Vladimir Putin in February 2022. 

Vladimir Putin is demanding the effective annexation of various Ukrainian territories that he historically considers part of the Russian Federation, such as Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhia and the Crimean peninsula, the latter already annexed following the intervention in 2012.